Last weekend we experienced our first big blizzard for the season. Considering the reputation this place has for the number of blizz days and pretty crazy weather, it has been a relatively dry season so far. With winds gusting over 200 km per hour at one point it did not disappoint. Maybe things are just kicking into gear and the weather gods are going to come out swinging! We were in red travel conditions for most of the weekend, meaning winds consistently over 110 km.
The travel conditions dropped to yellow (winds consistently between 74 km & 110 km) on Monday, but it was still an interesting afternoon for Dane and myself, collecting gear around station in the Hagglunds for our first big traverse of the season to Taylor Rookery! We were a tad excited to see the emperor penguins and get out on the sea ice. If this wind settled down we would head off on Wednesday morning. The first team out would be Gemma, Trev, Dane, Bayly, Danny and me. We packed enough gear in the two Hagglunds to do a full lap of Antarctica, which is a traverse Dane and I would gladly put our hands up for!
The big interstation darts competition was coming up. Over the weekend I thought it would be a great idea to get everyone practicing as the blizzard did not allow for many outdoor activities – unless you like extreme kite flying! I had been working on a doubles competition for a couple of weeks with mixed results and brain explosions. My goal was to have a doubles competition where 16 of us played one game with everyone else, either with them as a partner or against them. Trying to figure that out so that no two people were in the same game twice turned out to be a mathematical nightmare! If anyone can figure it out, feel free to let me know.
Probably the best thing to happen this week, and for me maybe all year, was our first tomatoes to come out of hydro. We had enough for two biscuits with tomato each. It was an exceptional moment in hydroponic history. Eating tomato on savoy biscuits, nothing better!
I’m off to go see emperor penguins and do electrical stuff!
See ya
Ryno, Mawson electrician
